Capitation: Sh59b relief for principals

National Treasury CS Henry Rotich presenting the budget estimates in Parliament on Thursday. [Boniface Okendo, Standard]
Secondary school principals got a sigh of relief yesterday as the government said Sh59 billion allocated in this year’s budget for capitation will be quickly disbursed to schools.

Basic Education Principal Secretary Belio Kipsang also pledged to have the National Education Management and Information System (Nemis) cleaned up to ensure all students are captured.
He said currently up to 300,000 students are not properly captured in the system, making it difficult to transfer the funds to them.
He spoke when he closed the week-long Kenya Secondary Schools Heads Association (Kessha) national conference at the Kenya School of Revenue Administration grounds in Mombasa.
“We are going to clean data on Nemis to ensure capture of all students. Let’s work together to ensure all the students captured,” he said.
The principals came up with a raft of recommendations to improve the management of schools, calling for an increase in the capitation grant, following the 100 per cent transition. The principals asked the ministry to release the design of the junior secondary school on Competency-Based Curriculum.
Dr Kipsang pledged to streamline medical insurance offered by the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to ensure all students are covered.

He dismissed claims by the Kenya National Union of Teachers (Knut) that teachers have not been involved in the implementation of the CBC.
“Teachers have been fully involved in CBC and are being trained. The plane will land safely,” he said.
The PS asked principals to revise their budgets on co-curricula activities as they had allocated up to 70 per cent to sports officials, leaving a paltry 30 per cent for students.
“The budget should be centred on the students and focus more on identifying talent,” he said.
Dr Kipsang asked principals to engage parents on how to fund the development of schools to complement what the government is doing.
Train without driver
On Thursday, Knut Vice Chairman Collins Oyuu claimed the CBC implementation was like a train leaving the station without a driver and will crash with all its passengers.
The principals said the Sh22,224 annual capitation per student should be sent directly to schools to allow the boards of management to exercise their responsibility on budgeting and execution.
They called on the Ministry of Education to separate the infrastructure and repair and maintenance voteheads and also increase capitation.
“The Kilemi Mwiria report should be reviewed to accommodate current costs of inflation and economies of scale,” said Kessha Chairman Kahi Indimuli.

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